Instrumentation for automated treatment of biological samples, such as anatomical pathology samples, is well known. Treatment may include staining procedures of the kinds that are typical in immunochemistry, in-situ hybridisation, special staining and cytology. Automation of some staining procedures has increased the speed with which pathology testing can be completed leading to earlier diagnosis and in some cases, intervention. Staining is typically performed on samples placed on microscopy slides to highlight certain histological features in a biological sample and incubation of the sample with small volumes of reagent is often performed. In many cases, automated staining of samples involves manipulation of robotic arms to deliver an aliquot of reagent to achieve staining. While automation has many advantages, there are also limitations associated with automating these procedures.
In some cases staining achieved by automated instrumentation is patchy or unreliable leading to rejection or “failure” of some slides by the pathologist. Failure can be attributable to bubbles forming in the reagent which leads to uneven stains, and/or debris from reagents producing lower quality stains. In other cases the cost to run each test is prohibitively high typically because of the high cost of purchasing and maintaining the instrumentation and/or the reagents used. In other cases still, stained areas are too small relative to the sample size and are not useful for diagnostic analysis.
Complexity of the automated instrumentation can also be problematic with myriad moving parts requiring calibration, maintenance and cleaning. In many cases processed sample throughput is limited by batch processing regimes where sample processing times are limited by the slowest staining protocol being administered in the batch.
It would be desirable to improve upon the available approaches to automated treatment of biological samples or at least provide a viable alternative to methods and devices used.
The discussion of the background to the invention included herein including reference to documents, acts, materials, devices, articles and the like is intended to explain the context of the present invention. This is not to be taken as an admission or a suggestion that any of the material referred to was published, known or part of the common general knowledge in the patent area as at the priority date of any of the claims.